The Swan's Egg
by iridescent mists
Summary: A short and slightly strange retelling of the story of Leda and the swan. Rated M for safety. Updated: altered very slightly


A/N: This is a one-shot based on the story of Queen Leda. If you don't know the story, then it's pretty standard. As you can no doubt guess, Zeus uses the form of a swan this time. I've changed the story slightly, but I didn't invent the bit about the egg.

NB: Eileithyia is the goddess of childbirth

**Disclaimer**: The long-suffering midwife and her apprentice are mine. I must reluctantly concede that I don't own any of the rest.

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The king's wife was wandering by the lakeshore when it happened. She often came out there, just to think in the quiet calm, watching the trees gently waving on the opposite shore and the swans glide serenely across the mirror-bright surface. It was a very peaceful place, and she felt that she needed more peace in her life.

So when one of the elegant swans glided over to alight on the bank beside her, she was not surprised. Frequent visits had accustomed them to her presence. Although they didn't usually come this close. As it neared, waddling incongruously for such a beautiful bird, she noticed how truly magnificent this swan was, larger than any she had before seen on the lake. Vague memories and rumours circulated through the back of her mind, of beautiful maidens visited by an apparently innocuous animal, who later proved himself to be a god in disguise. A _lusty_ god. And she (along with most of the kingdom) certainly counted herself beautiful…

But the rumours said that gods always came as, well, _manly_ creatures, didn't they? Bulls, and eagles, and the like. What self-respecting god would disguise himself as a _swan_?

Still, it was a beautiful bird. And amazingly tame – why, it looked as if it would eat right out of her hand, if she had anything to feed it with. Those eyes… so soft and friendly and appealing.

Such a beautiful… big…handsome… virile…….

Her eyes widened.

_That_ was no swan.

Perhaps those rumours hadn't been quite accurate after all…

x x x

A certain amount of time passed.

x x x

"What's happening in there? Shouldn't you be done by now?" King Tyndareus paced, back and forth, as he had been doing for the last six hours, snapping an endless stream of questions at the tired midwife standing in front of him.

She sighed inwardly. One of _those_. She didn't need this, not when she was taking her first break in six hours while her apprentice supervised the labouring queen.

"Well?"

"Your Majesty" she stated _again_, "sometimes these things take longer than others. It's entirely normal, and everything is proceeding quite nicely. I'm sure that we'll be done soon." A little white lie wouldn't hurt.

"Can't you, oh, speed it up? Make it go a bit faster, woman?" The midwife suppressed the urge to roll her eyes and settled for a polite "No, Majesty."

She hesitated, wondering briefly if she should tell him… no, it would only alarm him, and he'd drive her mad with endless fretting. But in all her years of midwifery, she'd never seen a babe quite like this one – from what she could tell, it was quite a strange shape, and it wasn't coming as easily as it should… Eileithyia, let it be healthy, she prayed.

It was at this opportune moment that the door to the birthing-chamber banged open and her distraught assistant stumbled into the corridor. King Tyndareus rounded on the hapless girl at once.

"You – tell me what's happening in there! She's my wife, by Zeus! Let me know what's going on!"

The apprentice midwife ignored him – as much through sheer panic as anything else – and gasped to the midwife standing beside the king: "Mistress! It's coming, mistress! Really quickly! And it's – " she broke off abruptly with a sideways glance at the king, who was becoming more apoplectic by the moment.

"It's what! Someone tell me what's going on! I'm the king, you know!" But the midwife was no longer there to answer, having already shut the chamber door in his face.

x x x

"It's a _what_?"

Tyndareus thumped onto the couch, head in hands, staring at the floor.

"How on earth did my wife give birth to an – never mind, don't tell me the details. _Why_ did my wife give birth to an egg? An _egg_, for Zeus' sake. What next, a cat giving birth to a, a, bear? And what's going to come out of it? Am I going to have a son covered in _feathers_? This must come from her side of the family – it's certainly not from mine!"

"Your Majesty –" the midwife began. She definitely didn't need _this_. Although it would make a fascinating story to tell at the next midwives' convention. "You'd probably best talk to your wife about it. She's through in the chamber – through there." Let her deal with it. A midwife's pay wasn't enough to cover this sort of thing…

x x x

Queen Leda smiled up at her husband from where she lay, propped up in bed by expensively decorated cushions. The egg lay nestled in woollen blankets to one side. It was a faintly greenish shade, and far larger than any egg had a right to be. "Well dear," she began "it's a bit complicated -"

"Then go slowly."

"I just mean that it'll take a while to -"

"Then get started."

"Well – okay, dear." She paused. "Let me explain to you about swans."

"Swans…? Oh, Zeus!"

"Exactly. You see, I was wandering by the lake shore when it happened…"

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The End

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In the original story, Queen Leda gives birth to (lays?) two eggs. Out of these come four children, who go on to be important mythological figures/heroes, as usual.

There are two sons, who become Gemini, the Twins. One of these is mortal (Castor), and one is immortal (Polydeuces/Pollux), but they both end up as stars/gods. The other two are daughters: Helen (as in Helen of Troy) and Clytemnestra (the wife of Agamemnon, brother of Helen's husband Menelaos). Two of them (Helen and I think Polydeuces) are regarded as the children of Zeus, and the other two as children of Tyndareus.

I'm not quite sure how that works.

But if you liked my story then please R&R. Even if you didn't like it, you're still welcome to offer constructive criticism on it. I might hopefully find enough time to read it (instead of doing my lab report, which is what I should be doing at the moment :-)

Oh, and tell me if you think the rating is too high. I wasn't quite sure what to put it under with the new rating system.


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